Emil gives Wren a nod of thanks as she bestows the magical protection on his beloved companion. While his speak with animals ability is active, he explains the situation to Pila before she stalks off. Then he watches and waits nervously for the confrontation to begin, absently rubbing his holy symbol while mentally requesting Erastil's blessing on the endeavor.
The sentry scans the area looking for trouble, but finds nothing amiss
Under the protection of magical invisibility, there isn't much the sharpshooter poised in the watchtower can do to stop the stealth approach of the party.
From this range, you can see the second watchtower is about ~150 feet to your direct south. In between here and there are two distinct areas, the central camp which consists of a semicircle of hide tents as well as a mess tent and a command post.
Slightly removed from the camp, a line of 10 iron gibbet cages dangle from wooden posts along an abrupt cliff which drops 80 feet to the ground. Seven of them contain prisoners of some kind.
Wren plans on staying well back until the invisible melee crew begins wreaking havoc.
During the delay, she will cast mage armor, and then snaps her fingers.
She pulls out the figurine of the bronze griffon she had found so many weeks ago and sets it on the ground. She speaks the command word and it grows in size. Wren then coos to the beast and asks for its help in slaying the awful hobgoblins as well.
The griffon takes to air, once she hears the battle was engaged.
With everyone at the ready, Emil's bat takes off for the sentry tower. A short moment later, the flask drops onto tower and flakes erupt. The sentry in the tower ignores the bat who quickly takes off for the second tower. After a quick determination that the fire is spreading, the sentry descends from his perch as quickly as he can to the ground.
HP 83/83
AC 23, touch 16, flat-footed 20, CMD 28 (+1 vs. grapple; +2 vs. dirty trick; +4 vs. trip); 25% chance to negate criticals
Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +3 (+1 resistance bonus to recover from a continuing effect)
Unbreakable Survivor (11 hp) 0/1
Martial Flexibility 0/7; knockout (DC 18) 0/1
Effects: weapon of awe (+2 damage, shaken on a crit hit), shield of faith (+3 AC), haste, bone fists (+1 bonus to natural armor and a +2 bonus on damage rolls with natural weapons), zephyr's fleetness (+30 foot enhancement bonus to land speed),
Realizing they're close, Caspan rushes forward and leaps on the nearest guard, trying to put him down quickly! He drives his fist hard right into the guard's jaw, shattering bone and spraying blood.
As soon as he sees the flames of the alchemist's fire, Emil holds his palm up toward the lookout. He spits out an ominous phrase, "A losgadh nan droch chridhe," and light surges from his palm, lancing at the enemy.
After doing this, Emil begins to hustle up the ridge path to get closer to the fight.
Caspan's punch is overwhelming, landing with a crunch that shatters multiple bones in the sentry. Unable to scream properly, he is unable to call for help when Emil's searing light burns a hole through his face. Broken and burned, the body drops to the ground beside the brawler.
Hovering nearby, the owl flies up into the air and soars towards the main camp.
Wren will be activating her griffon figure of wondrous power and sending it to engage the owl, if possible. The griffon is much faster, so hoping it can be caught fairly quickly.
Wren will be following at range, hoping to pick off some baddies as they figure out they are under attack.
Thael takes flight with a little less grace that he had anticipated, but still manages to fly forward just the same. Wren activates the tiny bronze statuette which transforms into a griffin. Taking flight, it soars towards the owl, quickly closing the distance and pouncing on the fleeing companion.
At the far end of the camp, the bat drops the next alchemist fire on the sentry tower, igniting the roof. The sentry within, leans out of the tower to try and get a good look at what's going on above.
Chatter and voices can be heard echoing from the tents, but so far the masses within have not become aware of your presence.
HP 83/83
AC 23, touch 16, flat-footed 20, CMD 28 (+1 vs. grapple; +2 vs. dirty trick; +4 vs. trip); 25% chance to negate criticals
Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +3 (+1 resistance bonus to recover from a continuing effect)
Unbreakable Survivor (11 hp) 0/1
Martial Flexibility 2/7; knockout (DC 18) 0/1
Effects: weapon of awe (+2 damage, shaken on a crit hit), shield of faith (+3 AC), haste, bone fists (+1 bonus to natural armor and a +2 bonus on damage rolls with natural weapons), zephyr's fleetness (+30 foot enhancement bonus to land speed), Boar Ferocity, Vital Strike
Caspan moves to the closest tent where he can hear noise and gets ready to hit anything that emerges.
Wren casts Invisibility on herself then moves forward toward the newly joined battle.
With the initial assault going better than he expected, Emil begins to run toward the camp as fast as he can.
Pila, still invisible, stealthily approaches the tents.
Grenwold and Ringo also move towards the tents, still invisible.
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In case you thought flying was the quiet way to approach something, Thael demonstrates the opposite as he bumps into posts and objects on his way to join the fight in the nosiest possible way.
Perfectly demonstrating stealth are Emil, Ringo, Grenwold and Pila who move into the center of the camp and begin to evaluate where to go next. Wren moves behind them all, covering the rear as she approaches.
Charging into the tent, Caspan confronts some rank and file Ironfang soldiers who are not prepared for his onslaught. Swinging his fist with tremendous power, Caspan knocks down soldier after soldier.
Emerging from the southern tent is a hobgoblin wielding a flaming light flail, dressed in a beautiful breastplate and wielding a heavy steel shield in his other hand. Accompanying the hobgoblin is a large wolf, snarling as it looks for prey. The hobgobglin climbs aboard the wolf and calls out loudly in his native tongue for all the soldiers to assemble immediately.
The southern sentry tower continues to go up in flames and the sentry there abandons his post as well, climbing down and beginning to advance towards the main camp.
Before any alies can close, Emil points accusingly at the hobgoblin on the wolf and utters magic words to loose a spell, "Buail Erastil na h-aingidh!" A light appears above the pair and then creates a wide beam that covers an area with a 20 foot radius. It looks harmless but any evil or neutral foes in the area begin to suffer internal injuries.
to any evil or neutral in a 20 foot radius centered on the wolf (but missing Grenwold).
to any evil outsiders in the area. If any evil outsiders are in the area, they are also blinded for 1 round.
He keeps Pila at his side until enemies emerge from tents.
The deer and the gnome wheel around, and Gren’s eyes spy a worthy foe. With a whisper, he and Ringo barrel towards the ‘leader’, invisibly, and he brings down his scimitar in a brutal swipe, trying to maim the hobgoblin that seemingly commands the camp.
But somehow he misses!
Ringo follows with a painful attack as well, seemingly investing a huge amount of celestial energy into defeating the leader.
HP 83/83
AC 23, touch 16, flat-footed 20, CMD 28 (+1 vs. grapple; +2 vs. dirty trick; +4 vs. trip); 25% chance to negate criticals
Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +3 (+1 resistance bonus to recover from a continuing effect)
Unbreakable Survivor (11 hp) 0/1
Martial Flexibility 2/7; knockout (DC 18) 0/1
Effects: weapon of awe (+2 damage, shaken on a crit hit), shield of faith (+3 AC), haste, bone fists (+1 bonus to natural armor and a +2 bonus on damage rolls with natural weapons), zephyr's fleetness (+30 foot enhancement bonus to land speed), Boar Ferocity, Vital Strike
Caspan continues dishing out punches to any hobgoblins still standing around him, trying to lay out as many as he can as quickly as he can.
Wren moves ahead, hoping to take care of some of the rank and file soldiers emerging from the tents. She casts Confusion, hoping to turn a few of them against each other, and becoming visible as she does.
Emil's holy smite strikes the wolf, it's rider and the sentry to the south, with the sentry getting the worst of it.
Gren misses his attack, but Ringo still charges ahead into the mounted hobgoblin.
Wren's spell takes hold of the troop that Caspan is engaged with, causing them to babble incoherently as he continues to pummel one after another until there are no more soldiers to punch.
Pila charges into the troop as more members emerge to joint the melee with Caspan, landing a few claws and raking them badly. The Ironfang troop doesn't have much left in them, babbling and unprepared for the sudden and deadly strike.
Thael's spell zaps both the wolf and it's breastplate wearing rider.
The griffon finishes with the first owl companion and flies south to engage the second one.
The mounted hobgoblin again calls out for his support troops, anger evident in his snarls. He whips his flail at Grenwold twice, but misses both attack. The large wolf tries to bite Ringo, but also misses.
On his last legs, the sentry in the rear stumbles forward and fires a shot from his longbow at Grenwold, but misses both shots.
P
P
F
F
P
F
Emil keeps an eye on how Pila is doing, but then sends more magic at the leader's mount. "Madadh-allaidh gèilleadh dhomh!" After uttering these words, he locks eyes on the wolf, a faint light traveling between them for a moment.
If the spell succeeds, Emil orders the animal to buck his rider of his back.
HP 83/83
AC 23, touch 16, flat-footed 20, CMD 28 (+1 vs. grapple; +2 vs. dirty trick; +4 vs. trip); 25% chance to negate criticals
Fort +10, Ref +10, Will +3 (+1 resistance bonus to recover from a continuing effect)
Unbreakable Survivor (11 hp) 0/1
Martial Flexibility 2/7; knockout (DC 18) 0/1
Effects: weapon of awe (+2 damage, shaken on a crit hit), shield of faith (+3 AC), haste, bone fists (+1 bonus to natural armor and a +2 bonus on damage rolls with natural weapons), zephyr's fleetness (+30 foot enhancement bonus to land speed), Boar Ferocity, Vital Strike
Caspan continues laying about him, trying to put down the rest of these hobgoblins before they can cause any trouble. The bony spurs on his fists keep them from cracking as they usually do when he brawls.
Wren watches as her griffon decimates the owls and her confused troops weren’t participating in the ruckus for the time being. With the rest of her group engaged, she watches for any reinforcements that might be on the way.
Perception
Grenwold's unleashes a flurry of attacks onto the leader.
Grenwold
Full - full attack with haste
Ringo
Full attack with haste, with entangling strike on gore
The noble elk, noticing his attacks seem to do much to hurt the evil foe, unleashes a fury of attack onto the hobgoblin - though he seems to be pulling his attacks a bit, as if he's trying to avoid killing the leader.
The wolf snarls at the attempt to take over its mind, fighting off Emil's attempt at control.
Thael covers the wolf and rider in golden sparkles, blinding only the wolf but not the rider. Neither is able to dodge the full effect of his lightning spell however.
Caspan and Pila combine to finish off the troop of soldiers in the tents, leaving a pile of bodies dying at their feet.
Wren scouts the area, looking for trouble.
The summoned griffin finishes with the second owl companion and swoops down on the last sentry, finishing him off.
Grenwold lands all three strikes on the leader, causing him significant harm. The hoggoblin remains upright however, still fighting on.
Ringo pulls his attacks a little too much. In effort to not kill the hobgoblin, the elk allows the foe to dodge each of the attacks!
The leader whirls his flaming mace around in circles, eyeing the ranger who's beating him down so badly. Spitting out a mouthful of blood, he says "... for ... the ... Ironfangs and "
Straining at first to call out, he manages to summon the last bit of his strength and finish the sentence strong. As he does so, he finds a way to land his first attack against Grenwold, but his second attack misses along with his blinded wolf.
Caspan hustles over, throwing a fist. "Leave the cow alone!" he orders.
Father Emil watches in case he needs to cast a spell to finish off the hobgoblin, noting and remembering the name he uttered.
Wren points out the harpies to the group. ”Be aware! Over to the east are several harpies! They don’t seem too aggressive right now, but, you know, they are harpies!”
"They going to be playing us music in their little liars?" Caspan says, laughing. They've got their own band? Ridiculous!
Grenwold's mouth is bloody as he grimaces through the injury, though he restrains himself from killing the leader, somehow, trying to manage his anger.
He mutters something to himself, "blast it. I do not wish to kill today...".
Ringo keeps his restraint, seemingly again trying to avoid slaughtering the leader if possible.
Emil tries to remember any lore about Harpies in case it comes to a fight.
Wren waves at the harpies, both letting them know that she was aware of their presence and not a current threat to them. ”Hey there. It’d be nice if you wouldn’t try to eat us. We don’t want to fight you,” she calls out, not sure if they’d try to communicate or not.
The first couple of strikes from Grenwold and Ringo miss, but the scrappy duo manages to land a strike from his scimitar and a few hooves to bring down the leader and his wolf, ending the immediate threat from the mounted rider.
As the hobgoblin falls to the ground next to his flailing flail, a voice calls out from the large tent you can only assume is the command tent. Inside on the table you find some papers that require further examination. Additionally, you find a large locked chest as well as a gnome chained to a table who is diligently yanking and straining against her restraints in an attempt to find a way to free herself.
When Thael opens the tent flap, her eyes widen and she panics, freezing in fear before she realizes it's not the hobgoblin returning. "OH! Please oh please, if you'll just free me with the commander's keys from his belt, I'll be on my way to Longshadow and no bother to you whatsoever. Please."
*Sharpshooters*
elixir of hiding x4
potions of cure moderate wounds x8
potion of heroism x4
+1 breastplate x4
+1 composite longbow (+2 Str) x4
mwk scimitar x4
mess kit x4
mwk backpack x4
340 gp
*Leader*
mwk breastplate with armor spikes
mwk heavy steel shield
+1 flaming light flail
cloak of resistance +1
keys to the pay chest (see below) and gibbet cages
silver-and-enamel Ironfang bravery medal (75 gp)
*Wolf*
mwk chain shirt barding
military saddle
*Treasure Chest*
15,000 gp
4,500 gp in gems and jewelry
potions of cure moderate wounds x5
potion of fly
potion of tongues
---
Emil knows that harpies are cunning and vile creatures, an amalgam of feral human woman and bird. They have wings and claws, and often have feathers and down across their bodies, but are otherwise humanoid. A harpie’s face is similar enough to a human’s at a passing glance, but close inspection shows a carnivore’s teeth and the dead eyes of a remorseless predator. Harpies wear their evil and cruelty on their sleeves, taking delight in the pain and suffering of others and generally making no effort to hide their enjoyment. Even a harpy with reason to be friendly will flaunt her wickedness and make it clear that she’s keeping score for later. Conversely, a harpy attempting to seem caring and virtuous is an unnerving sight.
He specifically remembers the most important thing about them is that they have a captivating song with the power to infect the minds of those that hear it.
As Wren engages the harpies, she takes note of the scene and gets a better idea of what's going on. There are 10 gibbets hung from wooden posts over the edge of a sudden cliff. The hard ground is 80 feet below and looks none too inviting. Inside the cages you see six miserable humans and one naked hobgoblin.
The five women harpies with the wings of red tailed hawks sit on posts. They have talons and feathers running down their arms and legs. Their leader gives a harsh cry and eyes the halfling.
"We are the Carrion Brides and this is our territory and these are our prisoners. Who are you and what do you want?"
”Um well, I can think of a few things. First, we’d like to pass through this territory without a fight. Second, we’d like to free those humans you’ve got over there in that cage. They don’t look very yummy, all starving and stringy. No real meat on them, unlike all the chunky hobgoblins we just killed. If you like to feast on carrion, that would be a fine deal for you, I think. Let us take their gear and you can have to rest to do with, well whatever, you all would do.”
Diplomacy